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From: sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu (The SGI FAQ group)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi.misc,comp.answers,news.answers
Subject: SGI misc Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Supersedes: <misc_786697207@viz.tamu.edu>
Followup-To: comp.sys.sgi.misc
Date: 20 Dec 1994 06:57:39 GMT
Organization: Visualization Lab, Texas A&M University
Lines: 638
Approved: news-answers-request@mit.edu
Expires: 17 Jan 1995 07:00:07 GMT
Message-ID: <misc_787906807@viz.tamu.edu>
Reply-To: sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu (The SGI FAQ group)
NNTP-Posting-Host: viz.tamu.edu
Originator: sgi-faq@viz
Archive-name: sgi/faq/misc
Last-modified: Sat Dec 17 12:14:18 CST 1994
SGI misc Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
This is one of the Silicon Graphics FAQ series, which consists of:
SGI admin FAQ - IRIX system administration
SGI apps FAQ - Applications and miscellaneous programming
SGI audio FAQ - Audio applications and programming
SGI graphics FAQ - Graphics and user environment customization
SGI hardware FAQ - Hardware
SGI impressario FAQ - IRIS Impressario
SGI inventor FAQ - IRIS Inventor
SGI misc FAQ - Introduction & miscellaneous information
SGI movie FAQ - Movies
SGI performer FAQ - IRIS Performer
SGI pointer FAQ - Pointer to the other FAQs
Read the misc FAQ for information about the FAQs themselves. Each FAQ
is posted to comp.sys.sgi.misc and to the news.answers and comp.answers
newsgroups (whose purpose is to store FAQs) twice per month. If you
can't find one of the FAQs with your news program, you can get it by
anonymous FTP from one of these sites:
viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/faq/
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/sgi/faq/
ftp.uu.net:/usenet/news.answers/sgi/faq/
Note that rtfm.mit.edu is home to many other FAQs and informational
documents, and is a good place to look if you can't find an answer here.
If you can't use FTP, send mail to mail-server@rtfm.mit.edu with the
word 'help' on a line by itself in the text, and it will send you a
document describing how to get files from rtfm.mit.edu by mail. Send the
command 'send usenet/news.answers/sgi/faq/misc' to get the SGI misc FAQ,
and similarly for the other FAQs. Finally, the FAQs are on the World
Wide Web at
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/sgi/top.html
The SGI FAQs are freely distributable and we encourage wide circulation.
You MUST keep the FAQs intact, including headers and this notice. The
contents are accurate as far as we know, but the usual disclaimers
apply. (In particular, copies of the SGI FAQs published on paper or
CD-ROM are certain to be out of date!) Please send additions and changes
to sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu.
Topics covered in this FAQ:
---------------------------
-1- How can I quickly find the information I want in the SGI FAQs?
-2- How do the FAQs support the World Wide Web?
-3- With what version(s) of IRIX do the SGI FAQs deal?
-4- What about material which doesn't fit in the FAQs?
-5- What are the comp.sys.sgi.* newsgroups?
-6- Are the SGI newsgroups archived?
-7- What are some related newsgroups?
-8- What are the comp.sys.sgi.* mailing lists?
-9- What are some related mailing lists?
-10- What are some related WWW pages?
-11- What are some related network-accessible documents?
-12- What number do I call for information about SGI products?
-13- What number do I call for technical support from SGI?
-14- What about SGI-related publications?
-15- What is the current release of ...
! -16- What is the current release of IRIX for my machine?
-17- Can I get a list of known bugs?
-18- What's the best newsgroup in which to complain to SGI?
-19- Wouldn't Nextstep be great on SGIs?
-20- Can I run Windows NT on my Indigo or Indy?
-21- Credits
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject: -1- How can I quickly find the information I want in the SGI
FAQs?
Date: 14 Nov 94 00:00:01 EST
- The FAQs follow the RFC1153 recommendations for message digests and
thus can be viewed easily with newsreaders that understand message
digests.
- Each question has a Subject: line, so you can easily step through
the answers with rn's ^G command.
- Each question is marked with a "dash number dash" so that you can
find any answer with a simple search pattern.
- Questions marked with a '+' in the subject line are new this
posting; those marked with a '!' have significant new content since
the last posting. Similarly, '+' and '!' in the left margin mark
added or changed text. Questions marked with a '-' in the subject
line will be removed in the next edition or so unless someone
convinces us otherwise.
------------------------------
Subject: -2- How do the FAQs support the World Wide Web?
Date: 05 May 94 00:00:01 EST
Tom Fine <fine@cis.ohio-state.edu> runs a service which converts FAQs
to hypertext (HTML). A list of the converted FAQs is at
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/top.html
and the SGI FAQs are at
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/sgi/top.html
You can view them with any World Wide Web browser, probably Mosaic
(which you can get from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu:/Web/Mosaic/), or, for text
terminals, Lynx (at ftp2.cc.ukans.edu:/pub/WWW/lynx/).
Some types of references in the SGI FAQs are in particular formats so
they will be recognized and turned into links to other documents:
- References to FTP sites are in rcp(1)-like format
('site:/path/file'). If you're not using a WWW browser, just do 'ftp
site', 'cd /path' and 'get file' as usual to get a file. References
to directories end with slashes so you know what you're getting
into. References to root directories (e.g. 'ftp.uu.net:/') do not
work; this is a known bug. Some FTP servers are not
Mosaic-compatible; just use 'ftp'.
- Other Internet services are in URL format
('protocol://site/path/file'). If you're reading the SGI FAQs as
plain text, you can still paste URLs into your browser.
- Manpages look like 'foo(1)' and Internet RFCs look like 'RFC####'.
Beware: Tom Fine is a Sun person, so the manpages are for SunOS.
------------------------------
Subject: -3- With what version(s) of IRIX do the SGI FAQs deal?
Date: 13 Nov 94 00:00:01 EST
Unless otherwise specified, the FAQs discuss IRIX 5.2. A few entries
deal with IRIX 3.x and many deal with IRIX 4.0.5, and they should all
say so. Versions of IRIX 4 before 4.0.5 and IRIX 5 before 5.2 are
rarely discussed because everyone should have upgraded by now. The
FAQs do not discuss IRIX 6.0 yet at all.
------------------------------
Subject: -4- What about material which doesn't fit in the FAQs?
Date: 10 Dec 93 00:00:01 EST
Entries in the FAQs should be relatively short and genuinely
"frequently asked". Some material which is of less general interest
or which is too long is archived at viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/. If
information you're looking for isn't in the FAQs, look there. The
FAQs may direct you there as well. You can submit material to that
archive just as you can an FAQ: mail it to sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu, or
put it in viz.tamu.edu:/incoming/ and let us know by mail.
------------------------------
Subject: -5- What are the comp.sys.sgi.* newsgroups?
Date: 18 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST
The active SGI newsgroups are
comp.sys.sgi.announce Announcements for the SGI community.
(Moderated)
comp.sys.sgi.admin System administration on Silicon Graphics'
Irises.
comp.sys.sgi.apps Applications which run on the Iris.
comp.sys.sgi.audio Audio on SGI systems.
comp.sys.sgi.bugs Bugs found in the IRIX operating system.
comp.sys.sgi.graphics Graphics packages and issues on SGI machines.
comp.sys.sgi.hardware Base systems and peripherals for Iris
computers.
comp.sys.sgi.misc General discussion about SGI's machines.
The original comp.sys.sgi newsgroup is obsolete. Please don't post to
it, so the rest of us won't miss anything.
To submit an article for posting in comp.sys.sgi.announce, send mail
to Matthew Wicks at sgi-announce-request@dcdmjw.fnal.gov.
Each of these newsgroups has a corresponding mailing-list; see
below.
------------------------------
Subject: -6- Are the SGI newsgroups archived?
Date: 04 Jun 94 00:00:01 EST
The SGI newsgroups are archived in their entirety, albeit in a
difficult-to-handle form, in ftp.sgi.com:/comp.sys.sgi/.
comp.sys.mips is likewise archived in ftp.sgi.com:/comp.sys.mips/.
Harry Mangalam <mangalam@uci.edu> makes the same newsgroups
available, and easily searchable, via WAIS. There is a separate WAIS
source for each of the current SGI newsgroups and comp.sys.mips as
well as the defunct newsgroup comp.sys.sgi. If you're familiar with
WAIS, just search the directory-of-servers for "sgi" or "mips" to get
all the source descriptions. If you use Mosaic, open the URL
'wais://hornet.mmg.uci.edu/comp.sys.sgi.misc' to search
comp.sys.sgi.misc, and similarly for the other archived newsgroups.
Thanks to these services, just posting something goes a long way
toward making it available to everyone, even after it expires.
Another good reason to summarize the answers to your question for the
group!
------------------------------
Subject: -7- What are some related newsgroups?
Date: 10 Nov 94 00:00:01 EST
comp.graphics.*, particularly
comp.graphics.explorer
The Explorer Modular Visualisation Environment (MVE).
comp.graphics.opengl
The OpenGL 3D application programming interface.
comp.graphics.packages.alias
3-D graphics software from Alias Research.
comp.soft-sys.wavefront
Wavefront software products, problems, etc.
comp.sys.mips
Systems based on MIPS chips.
comp.windows.x.*
comp.unix.*
comp.graphics.inventor has been proposed, but has not yet been
created.
------------------------------
Subject: -8- What are the comp.sys.sgi.* mailing lists?
Date: 18 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST
The SGI newsgroups are gatewayed to mailing lists for those who can't
get news (or who just prefer mail). To subscribe or unsubscribe, send
mail to info-iris-request@brl.mil (Chuck Kennedy, aka
<kermit@brl.mil>). Chuck is a human, not an automated mail server, so
allow at least a week for your request to go through. To post an
article, mail it to one or more of the following addresses:
info-iris-admin@brl.mil
info-iris-announce@brl.mil
info-iris-apps@brl.mil
info-iris-audio@brl.mil
info-iris-bugs@brl.mil
info-iris-graphics@brl.mil
info-iris-hardware@brl.mil
info-iris-misc@brl.mil
------------------------------
Subject: -9- What are some related mailing lists?
Date: 21 Oct 94 00:00:01 EST
"Contact" addresses are humans. If a list has instructions on how "To
subscribe", please use them instead of bothering the human.
Iris Online
SGI's monthly news magazine
To subscribe, send mail to majordomo@sgigate.sgi.com containing only
the line 'subscribe iris-on-line' in the body
FTP back issues from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/IRIS-On-Line/
SGI large users discussion list
For discussion of SGI systems with 1000 or more users
Contact Philip Smith <owner-sgilarge@uwindsor.ca>; please state the
type of system you are using and the approximate number of users.
Indigo home users mailing list
For people who use Indigos, Indys, etc. at home
Contact indigo-home-request@world.std.com or Tim Hall
<tjh@world.std.com>
Performer mailing list
Contact info-performer-request@sgi.com
Iris 2000 & 3000 systems list (for old SGI models, not MIPS chips)
Contact Jonathan Levine <jonathan@canuck.com>.
See also below under "network-accessible documents".
Biosym/Insight mailing list
For users of Biosym Technologies software [many of whom use SGIs].
Contact dibug-request@comp.bioz.unibas.ch (Reinhard Doelz)
FlexFAX mailing list
For users of the free FlexFAX fax software
To subscribe, send mail to Majordomo@whizzer.wpd.sgi.com containing
only the line 'subscribe flexfax' in the body
Contact Sam Leffler <sam@sgi.com>
FTP back issues from sgi.com:/sgi/fax/archives/
See also below under "What are some related WWW pages?".
ImageVision Library users' group mailing list
To subscribe, send mail to mail ilug-request@sgi.com containing only
the line 'subscribe' in the body
Contact SGI's TAC by phone, 1-800-800-4744
Alias software users' group mailing list
To subscribe, send mail to LISTSERV@uga.cc.uga.edu containing only
the line 'subscribe alias-l' in the body.
Contact Steve Follin <sfollin@VISEF.UCNS.UGA.EDU>
------------------------------
Subject: -10- What are some related WWW pages?
Date: 14 Nov 94 00:00:01 EST
Companies and organizations:
Silicon Surf (SGI's official WWW server)
http://www.sgi.com/
Center for Landscape Research (including image editing and
processing software for SGIs)
http://www.clr.toronto.edu:1080/
Center for Visual Creation (an SGI International Training Center)
http://www.erc.msstate.edu/CVC/
Easy Software Products ("2D & 3D software" for SGIs)
http://esp.atc.imssys.com/
Impediment (third-party memory and peripherals vendor)
http://www.impediment.com/
IRIS Explorer Center
http://www.nag.co.uk:70/1h/Welcome_IEC
MIPS Technologies, Inc. Home Page
http://www.mips.com/
NATPIX software demos
ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/natpix/html/natpix.html
OpenGL WWW Center
http://www.sgi.com/tech/openGL/opengl.html
Silicon Studio Inc.
http://www.studio.sgi.com/
Wavefront Technologies
http://wavefront.wti.com/
Miscellany:
Blix (an IndiZone game contest winner)
http://rugmd4.chem.rug.nl/hoesel/blix.html
FlexFAX Home Page
http://www.vix.com/pub/flexfax/
Grafica Obscura (Paul Haeberli's graphics commonplace book)
http://www.sgi.com/grafica/
HTML version of Bill Henderson's SGI FTP site list
http://mambo.ucsc.edu/psl/sgiftp.html
Scientific Visualization Software Packages
http://www.msi.umn.edu/SciVis/Packages/packages.html
securscan README (documentation for an IRIX security checker)
ftp://ftp.vis.colostate.edu/pub/irix/security/securscan.html
SGI DOOM FAQ
http://cornelius.ucsf.edu/~troyer/sgidoomfaq.html
Silicon Graphics User Groups
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/people/Faculty/Randy.Carpenter/sgiusers.html
US Army Research Laboratory (ARL, formerly BRL) FTP site
http://ftp.arl.mil/
Bill Henderson's FTP site list also lists some WWW sites.
------------------------------
Subject: -11- What are some related network-accessible documents?
Date: 03 Dec 94 00:00:01 EST
Silicon Graphics-specific documents:
SGI Anonymous FTP and WWW archives
Posted monthly to comp.sys.sgi, news.answers
FTP from rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/news.answers/sgi/anonftp/
FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/anonftp.gz
Contact Bill Henderson <billh@hampton.sgi.com>
See also above under "WWW pages".
Known SGI User Groups (SUMMARY)
Posted monthly to comp.sys.sgi.misc
FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/usersgroups
Contact Randy Carpenter <syscrc@gsusgi1.gsu.edu>
See also above under "WWW pages".
Iris 2000 & 3000 systems FAQ (for old SGI models, not MIPS chips)
Contact Jonathan Levine <jonathan@canuck.com>.
See also above under "mailing lists".
Explorer FAQ
Posted ??? to comp.graphics.explorer
FTP from swedishchef.lerc.nasa.gov:/explorer/FAQ
Contact explorer-request@castle.ed.ac.uk
Insight FAQ
FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/insight-problems
Contact Greg Ferguson <gferg@hoop.timonium.sgi.com>
Third-party hardware vendor lists
FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/3rd-party/
Contacts are given in the lists
SGI's Periodic Table of the Irises
FTP from sgi.com:/sgi/Periodic_Table.ps.Z
FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/Periodic_Table.ps.gz
SGI DOOM FAQ
FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/software/doom/sgidoomfaq.txt
See also above under "WWW pages".
Audio Applications for Silicon Graphics Systems
Posted ??? to comp.sys.sgi.audio
FTP from viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi/lists/audio-apps
Contact Doug Cook <cook@sgi.com>
Other documents of particular interest to SGI users:
OpenGL FAQ
Posted semiweekly to comp.graphics.opengl, comp.answers,
news.answers
Contact Mason Woo <woo@kicksave.asd.sgi.com>
See also above under "WWW pages".
comp.graphics Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Posted monthly to comp.graphics, news.answers
Contact grieggs@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov (John T. Grieggs)
comp.windows.x Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Posted monthly to comp.windows.x,news.answers,alt.answers,
comp.answers
Contact faq%craft@uunet.uu.net (X FAQ maintenance address)
comp.windows.x: Getting more performance out of X FAQ
Posted monthly to comp.windows.x, news.answers
Contact art@cs.ualberta.ca (Art Mulder)
Motif FAQ
Posted monthly to comp.windows.x.motif,news.answers
Contact jan@ise.canberra.edu.au (Jan Newmarch)
Unix - Frequently Asked Questions
Posted monthly to comp.unix.questions, comp.unix.shell,
news.answers
Contact tmatimar@empress.com (Ted M A Timar)
SCSI FAQ
Posted ??? to comp.periphs.scsi
Contact Gary Field <garyf@wiis.wang.com>
Uninterruptable Power Source (UPS) FAQ
Posted monthly to comp.sys.sgi.hardware, among others
FTP from navigator.jpl.nasa.gov:/pub/doc/faq/
Contact Nick Christenson <npc@minotaur.jpl.nasa.gov>
Dave's List of Free Audio Goodies
FTP from ftp.york.ac.uk:/pub/users/elec10/voice/audio_goodies.txt
Contact Dave Rossiter <dpr@ohm.york.ac.uk>
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) lists can be FTPed from
rtfm.mit.edu:/pub/usenet/, and HTML versions of some are under
http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/top.html.
------------------------------
Subject: -12- What number do I call for information about SGI
products?
Date: 22 Jan 94 00:00:01 EST
For product information, call SGI Direct at
US & Canada: 1-800-800-SGI1 (1-800-800-7441)
France: 05 244 244
Germany: 0130 811 011
U.K.: 0800 440 440
or your local SGI sales office.
------------------------------
Subject: -13- What number do I call for technical support from SGI?
Date: 29 Aug 94 00:00:01 EST
To reach SGI's Technical Assistance Center (TAC) in North America,
call 1-800-800-4SGI (1-800-800-4744). Elsewhere, call your local
sales office (see the previous question).
------------------------------
Subject: -14- What about SGI-related publications?
Date: 02 May 94 00:00:01 EST
SGI publishes several periodicals. Every SGI owner should get Iris
Universe (glossy and general) for free; if you don't, call SGI
Direct. Everyone on a support contract should get Pipeline (very
useful technical notes); Pipeline's address is pipeline@sgi.com.
Registered developers get another set of publications; ask
devprogram@sgi.com about getting registered.
There is one independent SGI-related publication, Silicon Graphics
World. Contact
PCI Publishing
12416 Hymeadow Drive
Austin, TX 78750-1896 USA
512-250-9023 (voice)
512-331-3900 (fax)
sgi@pcinews.lonestar.org
Subscription rates are $45/year in the US and $75 elsewhere. SG
World is a monthly tabloid. It has articles, product reviews and lots
of SGI- specific advertising. It isn't a technical publication.
------------------------------
Subject: -15- What is the current release of ...
Date: 07 May 93 00:00:01 EST
This changes quite often. The best way to get up-to-date information
about SGI products is to call SGI Direct; see above.
------------------------------
Subject: ! -16- What is the current release of IRIX for my machine?
Date: 11 Dec 94 00:00:01 EST
! The current release of IRIX for all 32-bit systems is IRIX 5.2. There
! is a general release of IRIX 5.2, and there are system-specific
! releases for Indy, Onyx Extreme and Challenge S systems.
! Everyone for whom IRIX 5.2 is the current release should receive IRIX
! 5.3 in the next several months; it will then become the current
! release.
! The current release of IRIX for Power Challenge and Power Onyx systems
! and anything with an IP21 upgrade is IRIX 6.0.
! The Nov/Dec 94 Pipeline has an exhaustive table of IRIXes from 3.3 to
! 6.0. It does not include IRIX 5.x where x > 2.
If you don't know what release of IRIX you're running, see the SGI
admin FAQ.
------------------------------
Subject: -17- Can I get a list of known bugs?
Date: 15 Jun 93 00:00:01 EST
Yes. In addition to known bugs that are documented in Product
Release Notes, the IRIS InSight Support Library includes a collection
of customer reported software, document problems, and requests for
enhancements in the Software Status Update (SSU) binder. The IRIS
InSight Subscription Service (SC4-INS-2.0) is an annually renewed
service which can be purchased from SGI.
------------------------------
Subject: -18- What's the best newsgroup in which to complain to SGI?
Date: 04 Jun 94 00:00:01 EST
It depends on what you're complaining about. Most of the SGI
employees who read the SGI newsgroups are engineers and similar
useful people, not evil marketing policy-setters. If you feel, for
example, that NFS or Documenter's Workbench should be a standard part
of IRIX, don't post; call your sales rep and yell at them.
However, software bugs are better newsgroup material: an SGI person
may well see your message and fix the bug then and there.
Nonetheless, don't depend on it. Call the TAC and tell them too.
------------------------------
Subject: -19- Wouldn't Nextstep be great on SGIs?
Date: 05 Jan 94 00:00:01 EST
Possibly. If Next ported Nextstep to IRIX (and several SGI employees
have made it clear that it is up to Next, not SGI, to do so) the
question might be worth discussing. That nonwithstanding, Next
zealots have flogged Nextstep around the SGI newsgroups many times.
They haven't convinced the command-line diehards that the Next way is
better or vice versa. Please don't try it yourself.
------------------------------
Subject: -20- Can I run Windows NT on my Indigo or Indy?
Date: 18 Jan 94 00:00:01 EST
No. SGI can, but only on Indigos with special hardware and software
modifications and only for demos and porting. There are no known
plans to provide NT on SGI workstations. Also, note that most
comp.sys.sgi.* readers will answer this question "Why would you want
to?".
MTI, aka MIPS, an SGI subsidiary, does make NT-compatible machines.
Try comp.sys.mips.
------------------------------
Subject: -21- Credits
Date: 08 Oct 94 00:00:01 EST
The comp.sys.sgi FAQs are the joint effort of the SGI FAQ group:
Dale Chayes dale@ldeo.columbia.edu
Steve Rikli sr@sgi.com
Allan Schaffer aschaffe@sgi.com
Dave Schweisguth dcs@proton.chem.yale.edu
! Gavin Bell gavin@sgi.com SGI inventor FAQ
Michael Portuesi portuesi@sgi.com SGI movie FAQ
! Dave Story story@sgi.com SGI impressario FAQ
Bryan James bryanj@spiff.esd.sgi.com SGI audio FAQ
Special thanks are due to
Tom Davis Author of the 'zip' editor
Mark Kirk Sysadmin of viz.tamu.edu
Harry Mangalam Maintainer of the comp.sys.sgi.* WAIS database
Dave Olson comp.sys.sgi.*'s one-man TAC
Finally, much thanks to all of the SGI employees on Usenet, who have
provided gigabytes of helpful information.
Credits for individual contributions are given in the answers.
------------------------------
End of sgi/faq/misc Digest
******************************
--
The SGI FAQ group sgi-faq@viz.tamu.edu
Finger us for info on the SGI FAQs, or look in viz.tamu.edu:/pub/sgi.